FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 20, 2000
CONTACT: Dan Rene, 703-847-3088 or drene@nlpc.org
Washington DC -- Today National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) Chairman Ken Boehm blasted the recent attacks on Regis Philbin by the Union of Needletrader, Industrial & Textile Employees (UNITE) citing the unions toleration of sweatshop working conditions for its own members here in America.
On June 7, 2000 the well known fashion house Donna Karan was hit with a class-action by the Asian-American Legal Defense and Education Fund for using a supplier who allegedly paid less than minimum wage. The now closed factory was in New York City, and was represented by UNITE Local 89-22-1. The workers in the UNITE shop claimed they were not paid overtime, were often paid by the piece and that the pay they did receive often amounted to far less than minimum wage.
"It is an outrage that UNITE can tolerate sweatshop conditions in its own shops, and fail so miserably to represent the interests of their own garment workers." said NLPC Chairman Ken Boehm. "UNITE needs to clean their own house before making such attacks on Regis Philbin, Phil Knight of Nike, or any of their other favorite targets."
"How the UNITE union bosses could tolerate such abuses in their own shops is beyond understanding," Boehm continued. "Current and former UNITE members from New York City testified before Congress in 1998 to the fact that in many cases working conditions in UNITE shops are worse than in non-union shops."
An advocacy group called the Chinese Staff Workers Association has repeatedly criticized UNITE for failing to represent the interests of its garment workers and helped bring about this latest suit.
Boehm said "UNITE's recent attack of Philbin is most likely a way to shift attention away from the union's own problems with tolerating sweatshops. Is UNITE anti-sweatshop? 'No' is my final answer"
Through its Organized Labor Accountability Project, NLPC has taken the lead in exposing abuses and corruption in organized labor. NLPC publishes Union Corruption Update every two weeks.